


Be Brave

by Faiz



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Character backstory expansion, Gen, Goddess Ceremony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-12
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2018-01-08 12:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1132894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faiz/pseuds/Faiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stacey had to admit she was a bit jealous of Gaia's goddess ceremony. Hers took place in a garden shed, with her father who only had minimal clue of what went on in a goddess ceremony. But she still loved her dad, even if he was a bit clueless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be Brave

**Author's Note:**

> Because Stacey had minimal backstory besides the fact that her goddess ceremony was in a shed, I decided to try and write something up because more characters need fics about them. So here it is! Part of Stacey's backstory and her goddess ceremony!

Her father was a Polish man. A man who loved acrobatics, and ended up joining the circus at the age of 16 so he could travel around and see the world on his own. Milan Orlik was his name. Orlik, like Eagle, which actually matched his personality quite well. And apparently the circus that he had joined must have gotten pretty popular, because soon instead of roaming the towns and cities of Poland, they had gone on to travel more of Europe, and soon they had managed to arrive to New Zealand. It was their in one of the small towns that her dad Milan, met her mother Cathrine. And in the end after their stay in that town, the circus had left without him. He stayed, because he had fallen absolutely head over heels with Cathrine. There was just something about her, her dad always told her, that just drew him to her that he had to abandon his love of traveling to be with her. And as it turns out there was an actual attraction besides the emotional one. They were both gods, although they were from different pantheons. Her dad was Stribog, the Slavic god of the wind, air, and sky. Her mother was Nanna, goddess of peace and joy.

They dated for about a year, and then ended up getting married. In that time, Milan's traveling bug couldn't be contained, and he dragged Cathrine across New Zealand and Australia, but they quickly returned to her mother's hometown after they learned she was pregnant. 8 short months later, Stacey herself was born. It was then that Milan and Cathrine's relationship got a bit rocky. It wasn't abuse at all, like it had been with other gods and goddesses she knew. They were just drifting apart. So when Stacey was two years old, they had decided to divorce. Cathrine had left for America, leaving Stacey with her father in New Zealand. She knew her dad loved her with all his heart, but even as a child Stacey knew that her dad still had that traveling bug that he so desperately tried to ignore in favor or raising his daughter. 

Instead, he got into cycling, and started his own delivery business with it. Sometimes Stacey would follow him, on her own tricycle. He'd go more slowly so she could follow behind him, and soon enough she got herself a bicycle and they'd be flying down the countryside on their bikes. As soon as Stacey was old enough, Milan put her in gymnastics classes. She was a natural, and caught on quickly. She could tell her dad was proud of her, taking so much after him. He even taught her self-defense, and after that, he started to teach her how to run a business. He'd take her along on his deliveries, explaining everything to her. It made Stacey excited. She wanted to take over the business one day, and then let her dad travel the world just like he used to before she was born.

And that idea continued, even up until she turned 21, and her dad was frantically running around the house mumbling about something. She just watched him go, with books spread out in front of her because she was studying for a business test she had in a few days. She watched her dad reach up in the hall closet to pull out an old shoebox where they stored all their important papers, and he pulled out an old worn piece of notebook paper. He continued to mumble to himself, and then he looked up at Stacey. 

"Do you remember what time you were born?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "...No, not particularly. I don't remember much of that time to be honest, dad." She smiled.

Milan managed to crack a smile as well, before he looked down at another paper in his hand. "It says here, 5:32 pm...What time is it?" 

Stacey checked her watch. "It's...5. Huh, I'll be officially 21 in 32 minutes!"

Her dad nodded. "We have to go do something...and I..." He looked at the old worn piece of paper again. "Shit. Stacey, I'll be right back okay? Just sit tight. We have to do something, and it has to be before 5:32..." He ran out the door, and Stacey got up just in time to see him biking away from their house.

It was almost 5:30 by the time he got back, and he was holding a plastic bag filled with random things. He looked frantic when he quickly told Stacey to stand up. "Hurry, hurry..."

He dragged Stacey out of the house by the hand, even as she protested. They ran across their lawn and her dad threw the bag over the fence connecting them to the neighbor's yard. Stacey was confused. The neighbors weren't even at home right now! They had gone off on some vacation to Hawaii or some other far away place, and they wouldn't be back for another two weeks. "Dad, what are we doing?" 

"Don't ask honey, I'm doing this all for your mother..." He checked his watch. "God, this is so much more simple our way, but apparently it can't be helped."

"Dad, I think you're going insane." Stacey mumbled.

After they both climbed over the fence with ease, her dad dragged her into the neighbor's shed where there was a large plastic container full of water. She noticed that it still had some wood chippings and saw dust floating in the water. Her dad was pulling things out of the bag now. His own pair of headphones, a CD player, a CD still in its plastic wrap, and he upended some flower petals and even more leaves into the water. Her eyes widened. 

"Leaves?" She asked, plucking one out of the water.

"I had to compromise. Didn't have enough money to buy more flowers so I just stole some of the leaves when a worker wasn't looking." He opened the CD and put it in the CD player, and he put it on full blast so you could hear it echo in the small shed through the headphones. He checked the paper again. "Okay Stacey, we have a few minutes. I guess it's time to explain all this to you."

"Yes, this is pretty fucking weird, some explanation would be lovely."

"Well...The thing is, you're...You're a goddess. You're going to be a Norse goddess to be exact." Her dad straightened up a bit. "I'm Stribog, the God and spirit of wind, air, and sky. Your mother was Nanna. Goddess of Joy and Peace."

Stacey stared at him. "You've finally cracked, haven't you dad?" She shook her head. "Don't worry, we'll save up some money and we can go to Australia for a few days. Wouldn't that be nice dad? Then maybe you won't be saying such weird things..." She backed away and went to reach for the door handle of the shed, but a sudden cold gust of wind caused her to gasp and pull back. The entire shed was windy, even though they were inside.

"Believe me now?" Her dad said as the wind suddenly stopped.

Stacey only nodded, and then looked down at the water. "Why specifically a Norse Goddess? I mean if you're a Slavic God, wouldn't that give me a chance of being one too?"

Her dad shook his head and gave her a small smile. "Slavic gods work a bit differently. You Norsies have your ceremonies when you turn 21, and us Slavs have it when we turn 16."

"16...That's when you ran away with the circus isn't it?" They both kneeled down by the container full of water.

Her dad shrugged. "I went wherever the wind took me. It told me to go with them so I did." 

Stacey nodded. "So you were dunked into water too?"

"No, gods and goddesses work a little differently. Your mother left me a note and some instructions in case you didn't become a Slavic Goddess. I honestly only have a faint clue what I'm actually doing. I've gotten in contact with a nice lady who is a Norse Goddess too that will sort of explain things to you afterwards, but today you're stuck with your old man." He smiled. "Sorry this couldn't be any nicer...We aren't exactly by any nice lake or pond for this to be done properly. We'll have to make do."

He checked his watch. "Shit, shit...Okay Stacey just kneel a bit closer...And..." He checked the paper again. "Okay, okay. Music, flowers, and it's almost...I have to..." He paused. "Dunk!"

"Dunk?!" Before Stacey had said anything else her dad grabbed the back of her head and shoved her face into the water.

She choked as water, leaves, and some wood chippings filled her mouth. She even stupidly opened her eyes for a few seconds, but it was enough to see some sort of strange glow around her face. It seemed to take ages, and she was sure she was going to drown, until she was finally pulled up coughing and sputtering by her dad. She rubbed her eyes and spat out some leaves. "Oh god what the hell dad?"

"Sorry! It was meant to be done a bit more gently but there was a time limit! It had to be right when you were born and we were almost late." He looked excited now though. "How do you feel?"

"Besides uncomfortably damp?" She tried to see if anything felt different. "I mean...not much...I guess? I dunno."

Her dad shrugged. "It's different' for everyone. I'm sure that lady...Agnetha I think? She'll be able to explain it to you more. But there you go! Now we should probably get back home so you can keep studying!" Her dad winked at her, and they both began to laugh.

When they got up and collected everything and threw it over the fence to their yard, Stacey turned to her dad. "Can you pick me up like you used to?"

Her dad raised an eyebrow. "Really? I don't even know if I can still pick you up!"

She held her arms up to him. "Come on, I'm a gymnast and you used to be one. Try!"

Her dad just laughed and then put his hands on her waist. With a grunt he lifted her in the air and span her around. "There! Now you're flying!"

When he set her on the ground she threw her arms around him. "Thank you, daddy." She mumbled.

For once, they were both silent as they continued to hug.

\----------

"Oh...Your father sounds like a lovely man." Ingrid said, sipping the tea that she had.

Stacey nodded, smiling. "He was a great dad. Even after we learned that I was just a handmaiden, he was still so proud of me. He said that I'd be the best of the best, and that it meant I'd be a good worker and that I'll succeed even more than he did when I took over his company." She gave a sad smile. "It's been awhile since we've seen each other."

"What happened?"

"Oh, well someone bought out his business, but they let me work for them. I told my dad that I'd do everything I could to get it back for him, but that he didn't have to worry anymore. I always knew that he hated staying in one spot for so long, and that even though he loved me a lot, I knew that he wanted to travel. So that's what he did. And that's what he's doing!" She grinned. "He sent me a postcard the other day. He was so proud to hear that I finally took back our business. He's in South Africa y'know? He was even in America for a bit, and he said he met up with mum too."

"Oh, that's lovely. You know I think you're the only one of us who had a really good home life."

Stacey smiled into her own cup of tea, remembering all the things that her father did for her, and how genuinely proud he was of her with any of her accomplishments, and she knew it was completely true. She'd be happy to be able to hug him and ask him even more about what he's done. As much as he was proud of her, she was just as proud of him, too.


End file.
